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Fisherman says no to surrendering his license

Port Wakefield marine scale fisherman Bart Butson says he won't be putting forward a submission for compensation with the South Australian marine parks.

SA Government

A Port Wakefield marine scale fisherman says he won't be surrendering his licence as requested by the State Government to help manage its marine park network.

The government needs a set amount of licenses from each affected fishery to minimise displacement in the industry.

Fishers have until today to put in their offers.

But Bart Butson doesn't think he'd be able to get enough compensation to sustain his business.

"They would like to take the licenses that have been most active within the sanctuary zoning areas and also they stipulate that they would only base the payment on current license values, and current license values are depressed because there's such a negative feeling in the industry."

Mr Butson says the whole marine park process has caused a massive uncertainty for his business.

"Fisherman are highly concerned with the environment and the conservation of the ecosystem and fish stocks.

"Nobody else cares more about those things than us because nobody else has mortgages that depend on it...if the fish stocks are bad I lose my house and I lose my business."